After the connection dropped, Lorit and Chihon made their way up the winding road that led to the keep. The road was wide enough to allow a team and wagon to pass, yet in places, the edge of the roadway had fallen away creating narrow and treacherous spots.
The final switchback took them to the gates of the keep. The massive oak doors stood twice Lorit's height, and looked ready to withstand any assault.
"What do you think?" Lorit asked. "Anyone here?"
"Can you feel anything?" Chihon placed a hand on the massive door.
Lorit reached out with his senses, probing for any magical ward or spell on the door. He felt none, and there were no guards that he could tell. None in the towers, none behind the gates, none anywhere in the keep.
"Feels empty to me," Lorit said. "Maybe it's a test."
"What type of test?"
"A test to see if we belong here." Lorit stepped back and raised his staff. He gathered his power to himself and spoke the words that should open the gates to let them pass. "Aperire et me transire."
Nothing happened.
"Maybe it takes the two of us," Chihon said.
They stood together and spoke in unison. Lorit could feel their combined strength wash over the massive gates. Slowly, the oak beams started to tremble, and then slid back leaving an opening just wide enough for them to slide through.
"Madam," Lorit said with a wave of his arm, motioning Chihon to go ahead.
Inside the keep, the road continued a short way, and then split into three paths. The one on the left wound around and behind the tower to snake up into the mountainside ending at the doors to the tallest tower in the keep.
The right hand fork led to an archway on the face of the cliff and disappeared into the darkness beneath the mountain.
The center fork took them to a large hall with tall stained glass windows that looked like a good candidate for the seat of the Wizards' Council. Menacing gargoyle statues stood guard over the entrance.
Off to one side was a large communal dining area, and branching from that were rooms of various sizes. They were all empty. Lorit chose one and dumped his pack on the bed. Chihon took an adjoining room and unpacked her things neatly into the wardrobe.
"Do you want to call the Council now?" Lorit asked.
"Lorit. You can wait until morning. Rotiaqua warned against calling them too soon. We need their help. Don't start off by arousing their anger."
"We have to find Zhimosom." He folded his arms and stared at her.
"Yes, and for that we need their help."
Lorit agreed to wait, but he would spend the time researching the keep and its grounds.
The Council Chambers doors came open easily, admitting them to a vast marble floor that glistened as if it had been polished that very morning. The hall was vacant save for a large marble table flanked by six ornately decorated chairs that stood court over the hall.
Beside each chair hung a banner representing the person who would occupy it. The two chairs in the center were larger and more intricately carved than the rest. Only one of the central chairs had a banner planted next to it. The other was leaned forward so that the back of the chair rested on the table.
"This looks like the place," Lorit said as they walked across the wide expanse. Their footsteps echoed off the walls making the empty hall feel even more massive. As they reached the center of the room, Lorit felt a tingling.
There was a spell at work here. He looked down at the floor. There was nothing immediately apparent. He scanned the pattern in the tiles, looking for any hidden diagrams or hexes that might have been built into the place.
There was nothing.
He walked towards the table and the tingling grew stronger. This time it was more distinct, more focused. Something was trying to stop his progress. Not directly, but subtly - almost as if it were not there.
Lorit kept going until the feeling became more pronounced. He recognized it now. It was a spell meant to make him feel deferential and humble. Anyone who entered the way he had would have felt an overwhelming feeling of awe and humility.
He laughed as he shrugged the spell off. "Did you feel that?"
"Yes." Chihon smiled at him. "Looks like we found the right place."
Soon they had passed through spells meant to make them feel humble, contrite, and eventually frightened. Lorit recited the spell that Rotiaqua had taught him to call the Council to order.
As they neared the table, a gong sounded off to the side, somewhere. Mist formed above the chairs that stood straight behind the table, taking the form of the Wizards that Lorit recalled from his prior visits to Zhimosom's study.
In the center chair sat Neussul. Lorit recalled him as a vocal member of the Council from their previous encounter. Chihon reached out, squeezed Lorit's hand, and whispered. "Why is Neussul presiding over the council?"
"That's right. I am presiding over the Council. I see you have proved yourselves Wizard enough to reach this place." He folded his hands on the table in front of him. "What is your business here?"
"We need your help to find Zhimosom."
"You want our assistance?" Neussul laughed. "To help you find Zhimosom?" He looked around the table at the other Wizards seated there, but none of them laughed.
"That old fool has finally passed into the great beyond." Neussul waved his hand in dismissal. "Please leave us now. We have important matters to attend to."
"He's not dead." Lorit looked the Wizard in the eyes. "He's alive and he needs our help." Lorit surveyed the faces seated around the table. He saw the almost imperceptible nodding of a few heads. "He's not dead."
Neussul stood, pushing his chair back. The screeching noise it made reverberated off the walls and quickly died out. "How dare you speak to the Council in this manner? You're just a young boy who has learned a few tricks. You're no Wizard. You have no right to come here and demand anything." He sat once more. "Please leave, now, before I have to take action against you."
Lorit scanned the table for any signs of support from the gathered Wizards. He saw most of them shaking their heads ever so slightly, and one imperceptible shrug, but no overt sign of support.
"Are you going to let him get away with this?" he demanded. "He's cut Rotiaqua out and now he's trying to set himself up as the head of the Council. Don't any of you have any loyalty to Zhimosom?"
Lorit thought he saw a few uncomfortable faces. He looked at Awbelser, who squirmed more than most. "None of you?" Lorit shouted.
"You have been dismissed," Neussul said in a stern voice. He stared at Lorit and Chihon. Lorit could feel the power that Neussul raised. He knew he couldn't stand against him, but he was ready to try.
Lorit gathered his magic to himself. As he did, he heard Chihon in his head. "Don't challenge him. You can't defeat him. And it won't help Zhimosom."
Lorit released his power and nodded his head. He felt dejected as they trudged through the deserted halls back to their rooms. "All this way to be kicked out and treated like a nobody."
"I don't like the way Neussul dominated the discussion," Chihon said. "I thought a few of the Council members were holding back. I don't think they all agree with him. I think they're afraid of him."
"Why would they be afraid of him?" Lorit asked. "Neussul seems to have them cowed. How did he become the head of the Council anyway?"
"How do they elect their leader?" Chihon asked. "Did they vote him in or did he just take over?"
"I don't know how the Council elects their leaders. Zhimosom never mentioned it. He just said he and Rotiaqua have presided over it for a very long time."
"I don't like it," Chihon said. "Something is wrong here."
"You'll get no argument out of me."
There was a small scroll waiting for them when they arrived at their room. It was rolled up and tied with a dark blue ribbon. The color reminded Lorit of Awbelser's robes.
He untied the ribbon and rolled out the scroll. The handwriting was neat and precise. It said simply, 'Research th
e succession rules at the keep library. Earn your place on the Council to save Zhimosom.'
"Who do you think left this?" Chihon asked.
"I don't know, but I don't believe the Council is unanimous in its support for Neussul."
They searched for the keep library the next morning. No one challenged them and no one appeared, as they had scoured the buildings. The emptiness of the place spoke of a much larger presence in days past. There were facilities for cooking, laundry, relaxation, rooms that looked to be for practicing magic, but no library.
By the end of the day, they had poked into every corner of the main buildings and all that remained was the tall tower standing alone. It was the highest point in the keep and accessible only by crossing a long narrow foot bridge that spanned a deep chasm. Lorit looked down as they made their way across the narrow rock formation that had been carved by the wind. It was a long way down.
The wind whistled through the crevice beneath them, at times threatening to topple them from their precarious walk. They reached the doorway and stopped to catch their breath.
Lorit placed his hand on the large wooden doors. There was a simple lock spell on them, nothing that would keep any Wizard out, but enough to stop anyone without a minimum of magic. He countered it easily and pushed the door open, to the loud protest of the hinges.
They entered a long hallway flanked by door after door. Each one had engraving on the casement written in the Wizards' Script. The gloom inside was too dark for them to read the words.
Lorit found a torch and lifted it overhead. "Incendo ignio," he said. The torch sprang to life and he touched the flame to another torch, handing it to Chihon.
"See if you can make out anything." Lorit examined the writing above the doors as he plodded down the hall. He found nothing like a library.
"Over here, I think this is it," Chihon called. She stood beside a large ornately decorated doorway.
The library was three floors tall with books lining every wall from floor to ceiling. It stretched far back into the darkness. Lorit's heart sank. How were they going to find what they needed in this vast sea of books?
"I hope this is organized in some fashion." Lorit whistled at the immensity of the challenge. "How are we ever going to find what we need?"
It took them well into the night to find the section that housed the records of the Wizards' Council proceedings. It was far down the library hall and behind another locked door that had taken their combined strength to open.
The history section stretched deep into the mountain and recorded the proceedings of the Council since it was first formed ages ago. Each era of the Council had its own section. Lorit worried that some of the books were so old that they would crumple in his hands, should he remove them from the shelves.
Chihon called to Lorit. "Here is a history of the Council succession. It shows the transition and inheritance of the leadership going back centuries." She smoothed the page with her hand.
"It says here that Zhimosom and Rotiaqua assumed the leadership of the Council over three hundred years ago. Can you imagine that?"
"How did it happen?" Lorit asked.
Chihon read on, flipping the pages and tracing the script. "It says they were the only ones left after a war that killed most of the Wizards in Amedon." Chihon placed her hand on the book to mark her place. "Lorit, this place used to be overrun with Wizards; now it's empty."
She kept reading. "It says the Council is to be led by a pair, a Wizard and a Sorceress bonded like Zhimosom and Rotiaqua. There is a provision in the event that a pair cannot be located; in such circumstances the Council is ruled by the most senior wizard."
"But how do we earn the right to sit on the Council? I don't want to rule it, I just want their help."
"Keep looking. There has to be something," Chihon said.
Time passed without markers as they toiled away deep beneath the mountain. Lorit and Chihon had slept and eaten several times while they pieced together the information they needed.
"The Council must honestly consider any business brought before it by any member." Chihon read. "If we can earn a seat, they will have to listen to us."
"And how do we earn our seat?"
"It says that we must undergo the Wizard's Challenge ... Hmmm ..." Chihon flipped through the pages. "The trial is composed of a series of tests meant to prove a Wizard is brave, strong, and wise enough to become a member of the Council.
"Lorit, this warns that failure could lead to death for the Wizard who unsuccessfully attempts the trials."
"Without the Council's help we will never find Zhimosom. Do we have any other choice? We can't just sit by while Zhimosom and Rotiaqua are in danger. I can feel them both fading. How much longer do you think they can last?"
"Do you think we're ready for this?" Chihon asked.
"I hope we are, because we don't have much choice." Lorit reached out and took her hand, dragging her out of the library. "Let's see what Rotiaqua has to say.
Back in their room, Lorit reached out for Rotiaqua. She was fast asleep in Zhimosom's chair with her head resting on the table. Lorit drew power from the reserves he carried and from the magic of the mountains. He had seen Zhimosom's study often enough to travel there by magic now. He reached his hand to Chihon and together they stepped into the study.
"Rotiaqua," Chihon said gently shaking the Sorceress. "It's me, Chihon."
Rotiaqua grumbled and raised her head slowly. It took her a while to focus in on Chihon. "Chihon? What are you doing here?"
"We've come to talk to you about the Wizard's Challenge. We think that we need to earn a seat on the Council before they'll help us."
Rotiaqua appeared confused. She caught sight of Lorit and reached out to him. "Lorit. It's so good to see you. How are things going with the Council?"
"Not good. They refused to listen to us. Neussul is in charge now and he won't help. We received a note telling us to earn a seat and then they would help."
"That's right," Rotiaqua said weakly. "If you are a member, they must listen to you."
"We have to undertake the trials," Lorit said. "It says that failing the trials can be fatal."
Rotiaqua shook her head at him. "Then don't fail." She reached for Chihon's hand and held it in her own, placing it atop Lorit's. "The two of you are the strongest Wizards I have seen in my long life. You'll do just fine."
She released their hands and laid her head back on the table.
"We'd better get back to the Council," Lorit said. "We have to find Zhimosom. Look how weak she is."
When they reached the Council Chambers, Lorit felt Chihon dragging him back as if she was afraid to face them. "What's the matter?"
"Up until now, everything we've been through was unavoidable. We never volunteered for any of the troubles we endured. Are you sure we should undertake the challenges voluntarily? The book said they could be deadly."
Lorit stopped and turned to her. She looked worried and he could feel her hands tremble.
"I know we had no choice in what happened to us, but I don’t see that we have any choice now, either. Zhimosom needs us and this is the only way to get their help."
Lorit squeezed her hands. "Rotiaqua and Zhimosom both have placed a lot of faith in us. She wouldn't ask us to do this if she didn't think we would succeed."
"I'm just afraid, Lorit. This is important. We are going to become members of the Wizards' Council. This changes everything, we're not kids anymore. We're going to become part of the established order of Wizards."
"I know, but there is no other choice. We have to find Zhimosom. Once we free him, then we can decide what to do about the Council."
Lorit brushed her hair out of her eyes and held her chin in his hand. "Once this is over, we can settle down. We're finally in Amedon; we have a place to live here and plenty of things to learn. This is our last big challenge. We can do this."
"I know, but I'm still afraid of what it might be. The book said it could be fatal."
"I
have faith in you," Lorit said. "Rotiaqua has faith in you. We can do this. We have no other choice."
Chihon took Lorit's hand. "I know, but it doesn't make me any less afraid." She led him towards the council table and started the spell to call the members.
As she completed the spell, a cloud of mist appeared above each of the seats and the members slowly materialized. Most of them were dressed in their Wizardly robes, but Koaleing was still in his night shirt and socks.
"What is the meaning of this?" Neussul demanded. "Didn't we already address you? I thought I told you that we are not interested in entertaining any more of your nonsense about the Wizard Zhimosom."
"We have come to demand a seat on the Council." Lorit raised his shield in case Neussul tried anything on him. He didn't want to get caught unawares.
"You have no right to a Council seat. You're wasting our time."
"We have the right to challenge for a seat on the Council. We have come to demand that right."
"You demand..." Neussul sputtered. "You demand?" He stood up and extended his hand to Lorit. A fire sprang up and rolled itself into a tight ball. It leapt from his hand and arched toward Lorit, accelerating as it came.
Lorit raised his staff and easily deflected the fireball. Neussul came at him again, this time harder, but Lorit handled it deftly, almost without effort. The smoking, sputtering fireball splashed over his shields to spread as sparks across the floor.
The third one he launched at Chihon. Before the spitting ball of sparks made it half the way to where she stood, she reached out and squeezed her fingers together. The ball contracted until it was a tiny shower of sparks and then exploded.
"You've had your fun." Lorit folded his arms. "Are you going to accept us for the challenge or not? Or has the Council decided to throw out generations of tradition and laws that were set down by the Wizards of old?"
"We accept you for the challenge," Neussul said. "But, this was just a taste of what's in store for you. Had you even flinched at one of my attacks, you would have already failed."
Wizard's Education (Book 2) Page 32
